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When indie classic Papers, Please wanted to make its way onto Apple’s App Store it first had to pass the censors. The game was originally rejected for its “pornographic content” and if you were wondering what pornography looks like in an 8-bit style indie game, it looks a little like this.

The game is now available from the App Store for $5.99 for a limited period before going to full price at $7.99, after the creators made some changes. It seems that the that the scanning option has not been completely removed and more likely the nudity feature has been permanently switched off, leaving images more like this:

The App Store had this to say about its policy:

“We view Apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical App,”

“We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, ‘I’ll know it when I see it’. And we think that you will also know it when you cross it.”

Consumers have been writing in to Apple to express their disappointment. Adults who use apple products wish to be able to choose the content they find appropriate for themselves, and be able to see a game in the format the artist originally intended it to be viewed. Lucas Pope, one of the developers behind Papers, Please, announced the change on Twitter yesterday one day before the full release of the game on the App Store.

Apple fans who still want to be able to view the full game can still do so on Macbooks through Steam where the product is not censored. PC users who have had the game available since August 2013 still have all the options available as well.

The censorship seems to only effect iOs devices which has upset fans of the game, such as myself, who wish to play the full version in transit.

What are your thoughts? Is this censorship a problem? Or are people upset over nothing?

UPDATE: Looks like the nudity could be coming back after the weekend. Hooray.

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